The Robbie Report: A Look Ahead at 2015

There are a number of interesting developments on the horizon heading into the New Year. One involves the aging population. The retirement of baby boomers, those Americans born between 1946 and 1964, will undoubtedly continue to increase. Even so, don’t count them out: they will still have a significant impact on the real estate market for another 20 years or so.

In 2015, look for a greater emphasis on living and working in urban settings. Downtown Dallas is exploding into spaces such as Museum Tower in the arts district and The Cedars in the southern sector, areas that didn’t even exist just a few years ago.
Dallas is attracting a lot of interest from a variety of investors. Our job growth, a strong local economy, and the low cost of doing business in the region make DFW attractive. In the recent Emerging Trendsin Real Estate report, the Urban Land Institute and PriceWaterhouse Coopers report said Austin, Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth were singled out as best places to invest in real estate.

A few weeks ago in this column, I talked about the influx of Chinese and other offshore dollars coming into North Texas. With aggressive recruitment efforts through Mayor Mike Rawlings’ office, the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau and others, I think we can expect that only to increase.

Technological disruption should also continue to be a major source of discussion. This alone is driving some significant shifts not only in terms of where we live, but also in how we live as well. Real estate seems less worried about the impact of technology and is becoming better at adapting to such changes.

All in all, I must say that 2015 is already shaping up to be one interesting year.